STEVE MCNIVEN

Canada is comics’ secret super-power. As far back as 1938, when Toronto-born Joe Shuster created Superman with Cleveland’s Jerry Siegel, Canada has been a vital partner -- a Wild Child to America's Sabtretooth. (Age of Apocalypse version.)

”We have so many great artists and writers to choose from, it’s such an embarrassment of riches,” says Ty Templeton, a writer and artist who has worked for most major publishers and on most big name characters, and who knows just about everyone in the business. When he says Canada's creative community boasts an embarrassment of riches, he knows what he's talking about. So on this beautiful and proud Canada Day, we at Comics Alliance have to ask; why hasn't a Canadian creative team ever taken on Canada's best-known superhero team, Alpha Flight?

Wolverine, he dead. Almost. Soon. Soon. In a shock headline-grab, the folks at Marvel have announced that the big hand and the little hand have ticked all the way back around to "kill off a major character" o'clock, and the name they picked out of the hat this time was "James Howlett". And after asking around the office someone confirmed that they're pretty sure that's Wolverine. No, not Magneto. Not Rogue. 94% sure that's Wolverine.

So we come here today at ComicsAlliance not to praise Wolverine, but to promote his comic. But please note that this article contains spoilers for the forthcoming Marvel series Death of Wolverine, and the spoiler is that they kill Wolverine. Wolverine dies, you guys. No more Wolverine.

Marvel went to C2E2 armed with a plethora of publishing announcements for the Chicago crowd, focusing largely on special projects like miniseries and some pretty cool-sounding Original Sin tie-ins, but with a couple auspicious new series as well. In an inspired bit of comic book casting, Our Love Is Real and Avengers A.I. writer Sam Humphries will write the The Legendary Star-Lord, a new series drawn by Paco Medina starring the Guardians of the Galaxy leader. In similarly agreeable news, fan favorite X-Men leader Stormwill star in a new ongoing series, this one courtesy of Greg Pak and Victor Ibanez.

Last week's Uncanny Avengers, by Rick Remender and Steve McNiven, killed off a whole bunch of characters. The last issue of Avengers Arena, by Dennis Hopeless and Kev Walker, came out the same day with that book's final death tally. It was a good day for funeral directors in the Marvel universe.

The deaths in these two titles ran the gamut from newly minted minor characters seemingly created just so they could die to major Marvel heroes with substantial fanbases and decades of history. Does that distinction matter in a genre that takes such a light view of death?

Marvel has teased that the Inhumans would play a large role in Jonathan Hickman's upcoming Infinity storyline. It seems that wasn't an exaggeration, as today via Entertainment Weekly the publisher announced Inhuman, a new monthly series written by Matt Fraction, which will serve as the centerpiece of an event called Inhumanity. To go with the news Marvel released an image of the characters who'll be at the forefront of the story, illustrated by Steve McNiven and featuring a new look Wolverine, the Winter Soldier, a non-Superior Spider-Man and, interestingly, very few Inhumans.

The announcement, along with comments from Fraction and Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso, further enforce the idea of the Inhumans as an analogy for oppressed minorities, and possibly sets them up as the primary metaphor for oppression and alienation in the Marvel Universe, a position previously occupied by the X-Men.

Guardians of the Galaxy #1 hits stores today, a new series by Brian Michael Bendis and Steve McNiven that hopes to boost the profile of Marvel's space-faring super-team ahead of next summer's movie release, so that when your non-comics friends ask you, "Who are these Guardians of the Galaxy?", you don't answer, "the who-dians of the what-now?"

But... who are the Guardians of the Galaxy? They're actually talking owls from a series of fantasy novels about... no, sorry, my editor is telling me that is not correct. Let's see... the series tells the story of Jack Frost, Santa Claus, the Sandman and... no, I'm getting another note here, hang on... A talking raccoon and a tree? That can't be right.

If you're feeling a little confused, don't panic! ComicsAlliance is here to tell you everything you need to know about the Gladiators of the Gridiron! And then some.

If the measure of success of the Marvel NOW relaunch campaign is truly how accessible these many decades-old superhero sagas can be made for fresh eyes, then the publisher and its roster of creators deserve whatever praise is coming to them. Some very recent runs notwithstanding,

The launch of two new books saw the return of Marvel's cosmic titles at yesterday's Marvel Cup O' Joe panel at New York Comic-Con -- but we were told not to think of them as "cosmic" anymore. The panel led by Marvel chief cr

On sale this week is Captain America #1, beginning a new series for the Sentinel of Liberty just in advance of his much anticipated return to the big screen in Captain America: The First Avenger. Written by Ed Brubaker and illust

After more than four years, Steve Rogers will once again assume the mantle of Captain America, and just in time for his new movie, too. July will see not just the much anticipated release of the Captain America: The First Avenger film but also Marvel Comics' brand new Captain America series, which returns Steve Rogers to the forefront and in his classic costume. The series will be written by longtime Cap architect Ed Brubaker an

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